Key Words: Trump warns North Korea: ‘Do not try us’

Speaking before South Korean lawmakers, President Donald Trump issued a stark warning Wednesday to North Korea.

“Do not underestimate us, and do not try us.”

President Donald Trump

Trump said Kim Jong Un’s regime should not take “America’s past restraint as weakness.”

“This would be a fatal miscalculation. This is a very different administration than the United States has had in the past,” Trump said in a speech to South Korea’s National Assembly in Seoul. “We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction. . . . We will not be intimidated.”

Trump went on to praise the longtime alliance with South Korea, and called on China and Russia to increase economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea.

Later, in a series of tweets — in which he took advantage of Twitter’s new, expanded 280-character limit — Trump said he wants “peace through strength,” and said the world should not doubt the strength and determination of the U.S.

The U.S., under my administration, is completely rebuilding its military, and they’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars to the newest and finest military equipment anywhere in the world, being built right now. I want peace through strength! pic.twitter.com/2YXkIvRIFi

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017

The North Korean regime has pursued its nuclear & ballistic missile programs in defiance of every assurance, agreement, & commmitment it has made to the U.S. and its allies. It’s broken all of those commitments… pic.twitter.com/xJ4jUpA8d8

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017

Anyone who doubts the strength or determination of the U.S. should look to our past….and you will doubt it no longer. pic.twitter.com/zyuYc0fIH6

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017

Trump is in the middle of a 13-day trip to Asia, and is scheduled to fly to China later in the day.

On Tuesday, Trump appeared to soften his rhetoric toward North Korea, saying: “It makes sense for North Korea to come to the table and to make a deal that’s good for the people of North Korea and the people of the world.”